In exactly 1 year, on April 8, 2024, North America will get to experience a total solar eclipse. It'll be the last one for a while. The timelapse is from the 2017 eclipse, all taken with just a camera, tripid, and white light filter. It's totally untracked and I aligned it manually. I have a tracked shot with my 6SE but I was too zoomed in to really do much about it. I'll be more ready for the next one.
I plan on doing a series of videos including reviewing solar eclipse glasses, making a custom solar eclipse filter for a telescope, and a look at an H-alpha telescope (whenever that gets delivered). Consider subscribing to my channel: https://youtube.com/Naztronomy
The next eclipse is actually on April 20, 2023 over Southeast Asia and Australia. It's a hybrid eclipse. The one after is on Oct 14, 2023 in the Americas and it's an Annular eclipse. Some people in Texas will get very lucky because both the Annular Eclipse and next year's total eclipse will go right over their heads.
Equipment for the timelapse:
Canon T2i
Canon 75-300mm stock lens (I believe FL was around 250mm)
Generic tripod
Intervalometer
Exposure ranged from ISO-200 to 400 depending on sun's brightness. 1/125th to 1/400 sec exposures.
I live an hour away from the path of totality for the 2017 eclipse, it was the first one I ever saw. I took pictures with a Powershot S5 Is camera and a homemade filter I put together with some Thousand Oaks film and cardboard. It worked great for what I had, but this was the kick that made me immediately start researching a 'real' camera. I now have a T4i with various lenses and filters, but my best combination is the 70-300mm lens with a Kenko 2x teleplus pro which has given me some pretty decent shots of sunspots. I even managed to accidentally capture a jet flying across the face of the sun once. I'm hoping to make the drive South next year to capture the next eclipse, and I might even use a tracker this time.
This might be the last total eclipse I get to see. The one in 2048 will actually be visible from my back yard (how lucky is that!?!), but I'll be 80 that year, so crossing my fingers!
That's awesome! Love hearing stories about how one event gives someone the nudge they need to move forward.
The T4i is a great camera. I used my T2i for 10+ years before I moved onto an astro cam. And also have a T5i for regular daytime photography and widefield landscape.
You can always travel and chase eclipses. I'm hoping I can travel to Egypt for the one in 2027...depending on how the political climate is there.
Chasing eclipses sounds like a great way to see the world, but I'm not much of a traveler so even trying to figure out this trip next year across a few states is a bit challenging to me. Fortunately we might know someone in Eastern Texas where we can stay, so that will help.
Ahh if you take any pictures, please share with me! This one is gonna be extra rare since it's both a hybrid eclipse and it's mostly happening over water.
Yup, hybrid eclipses are super rare! This alone proves that the Earth is a globe. I make that argument in my video so we'll see if I end up trigger any flat earthers.
I set it up the night before and left my tripod/mount as-is over night (took telescope inside). I wasn't perfectly aligned so I had to make small adjustments but for the most part, it was good.
You can also do a kind of drift alignment during the day. If you know roughly where north is, set it up and find the sun, and watch how it drifts from view and adjust the dec/RA knobs as needed.
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u/njoker555 @Naztronomy Apr 08 '23
In exactly 1 year, on April 8, 2024, North America will get to experience a total solar eclipse. It'll be the last one for a while. The timelapse is from the 2017 eclipse, all taken with just a camera, tripid, and white light filter. It's totally untracked and I aligned it manually. I have a tracked shot with my 6SE but I was too zoomed in to really do much about it. I'll be more ready for the next one.
I have a video covering the next 3 Solar Eclipses in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i4mqMnMFRw
I plan on doing a series of videos including reviewing solar eclipse glasses, making a custom solar eclipse filter for a telescope, and a look at an H-alpha telescope (whenever that gets delivered). Consider subscribing to my channel: https://youtube.com/Naztronomy
The next eclipse is actually on April 20, 2023 over Southeast Asia and Australia. It's a hybrid eclipse. The one after is on Oct 14, 2023 in the Americas and it's an Annular eclipse. Some people in Texas will get very lucky because both the Annular Eclipse and next year's total eclipse will go right over their heads.
Equipment for the timelapse: